What's different about Axanar is that its multi-million dollar budget was completely intended to be raised from Star Trek fans, using the appeal of the studios'​ copyrighted property. Unlike Axanar‭, ‬there'​s no money in the other fan films for CBS to go after‭. ‬In addition‭,​ ‬Axanar'​s‭ [[Annual Report]] detailed an extensive and expanding [[fan_films_breaking_the_unwritten_rules_and_defining_profit|commercial operation]] trading off the studios‭'​ [[Star Trek]] intellectual property.

What's different about Axanar is that its multi-million dollar budget was completely intended to be raised from Star Trek fans, using the appeal of the studios'​ copyrighted property. Unlike Axanar‭, ‬there'​s no money in the other fan films for CBS to go after‭. ‬In addition‭,​ ‬Axanar'​s‭ [[Annual Report]] detailed an extensive and expanding [[fan_films_breaking_the_unwritten_rules_and_defining_profit|commercial operation]] trading off the studios‭'​ [[Star Trek]] intellectual property.

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Attorney Gershen-Siegel, points to the scale of Axanar'​s fundraising:​

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Attorney Gershen-Siegel points to the scale of Axanar'​s fundraising:​

> The money is certainly a factor; Axanar has a deeper pocket than the other [fan] productions do. Making a profit or crowdfunding are not necessarily dispositive of anything here, but the money does lend credence to the idea of this being more than a mere fan film. Despite whatever it has been called or will be called, the budget numbers are close to other independent releases. \\ \\ Continually referring to themselves as an ‘independent production’ could not have helped matters. Working with [actor [[cast|Gary Graham]]] to reprise his actual canon role [as Vulcan ambassador [[Soval]]] was another problem area.((Janet Gershen-Siegel post, [[http://​www.gandtshow.com/​fan-dance-sound-fury-and-axanar/​|"​Fan Dance — Sound, Fury and Axanar]], G&T Show website, 1/21/16.))

> The money is certainly a factor; Axanar has a deeper pocket than the other [fan] productions do. Making a profit or crowdfunding are not necessarily dispositive of anything here, but the money does lend credence to the idea of this being more than a mere fan film. Despite whatever it has been called or will be called, the budget numbers are close to other independent releases. \\ \\ Continually referring to themselves as an ‘independent production’ could not have helped matters. Working with [actor [[cast|Gary Graham]]] to reprise his actual canon role [as Vulcan ambassador [[Soval]]] was another problem area.((Janet Gershen-Siegel post, [[http://​www.gandtshow.com/​fan-dance-sound-fury-and-axanar/​|"​Fan Dance — Sound, Fury and Axanar]], G&T Show website, 1/21/16.))